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30 August 2012

Here's a nice video interview with Kanonkop owner Johann Krige while he's visiting a stockist in Hong Kong.See hereJohann has said in the past that Pinotage is popular there because it pairs so well with the local food.

28 August 2012

In times gone
past they headed to California to dig for gold. Now it’s their wines that are
finding gold. Loma Prieta winery’s gold rush is led by its Pinotage. The medal count
for the 2010 Pinotage so far this year is eleven Golds, and it also won Best of
Class Red Vinifera Varietal for the second year running at the Indy International
Wine Competition.

Pinotage grapes growing in the Estate vineyard

The winning 2010
Pinotage, as with their previous vintages, comes from the Amorosa Vineyard in
Lodi, but owner Paul Kemp’s future plans include releasing four separate single
vineyard Pinotages. This year he is bottling his first Estate wine from his own
vineyard, as well as from the Amorosa Vineyard in Lodi, and he’s also made wines from grapes grown in Karma
Vineyard, Lodi and Sierra Ridge, Amador County.

My notes on the Loma Prieta 2010 Pinotage Amorosa
Vineyard noted blueberry and cherry flavours, there’s a good fruit acidity which
makes the wine very moreish, some tannins and, after the bottle has been open
some time I started to notice an underlying soft coffee accent developing. It’s
a delightful wine now and I think it will only get better..

24 August 2012

New winery Grace Vineyards, located in White Hall, Virginia, has just planted an acre of Pinotage.
It previously operated as Mount Juliet Vineyards producing grapes for other wineries from its 53 acres. Now under new owner John Grace, Grace Vineyards is opening in April 2013 and will be producing its own wines.
.

Interesting selection of newcomers and old reliables. Mount Vernon is a name new to me. According to Platter they're a small producer with just 1,000 cases and their Pinotage has 'coffee notes' which is a flavour the Top 10 judges have previously steered clear of.

About Me

Peter F May is the founder of The Pinotage Club, an international cyber-based fan club for wines made from the Pinotage variety.
Peter was awarded Honorary Membership of the producers Pinotage Association in 2004 and was a judge at the annual Pinotage Top 10 Competition in 2004 and 2005.
Peter is a wine writer, educator and author. His book PINOTAGE: Behind the Legends of South Africa's Own Wine may ordered below and from Amazon.
Marilyn Merlot and the Naked Grape - odd wines from around the world was published in summer 2006.
Peter answers all polite emails - contact him at peter (at) pinotage (dot) org .

A I Perold's
A Treatise
on Viticulture
A I Perold (1880-1941) was South Africa's first Professor of Viticulture and Oenology. He dedicated himself to improving the quality of grapes for wine, brandy and the table. He studied wine and brandy production in Europe, imported more than 60 varieties to the Cape and bred new ones. Perold said this book “is intended to serve both the student and the practical grape-grower. There are in it technical passages that will appeal more to the student, e.g. the chapters dealing with the biology of the vine, its external and internal morphology, the theory of grafting. My remarks on the practice of viticulture, such as those dealing with the propagation, manuring and pruning of the vine, the production of table grapes for export, will, it is hoped, assist the practical grape-grower as well as the student.” This is a newly typeset reprint, not a photocopy. Text on the 712 pages have been aligned to match the original pagination so any external references to pages in the Treatise will be valid in this edition
Available in paperback and hardback editions. 712 pages